ECE 3155 Design Project

Overview
The goal of the Design Project is for students to develop and execute a project plan which includes the
following elements: 1) defining the project to be accomplished, 2) defining the specifications to be met, 3)
defining and scheduling tasks, 4) executing the project plan, and 5) testing the finished product. You will
work on a team where each team member assumes responsibility for a significant task.
Components
You can use components that are in your laboratory kit, but other components may be used if approved by
the instructor. Any resistor or capacitor value is acceptable. You are not limited as to the number of any
component, but you are limited as to the type. For example, you may use 20 op-amps, as long as they are
all 741s. If you wish to use components that that are not in the lab kit, you must make a request to do so.
Teams
• You must work in a team with 4 or 5 members
• There must be a designated Team Leader who will be responsible for task integration, setting up
design and milestone reviews, communication with the lab instructor, etc.
• Each member of the team must take primary responsibility for at least one of the tasks
• Each team member is responsible for understanding the entire project including tasks assigned to
other team members.
You may pick the members of your team, but you must do so by the date and time indicated on the class
schedule for choosing teams. One member of your team should be designated the team leader; that person’s
first job is to submit the names of the team members to your instructor by e-mail at wolfe@uh.edu. If you
do not join a team on your own, the instructor will assign you to a team.

The proposal:
1. Goal: A concise statement of the project goal (e.g. The goal of this project is to design and
prototype a ….. to satisfy the following need:……. )
2. Specifications: Identify the potential customers for your device and list the specifications that they
would find essential.
3. Initial circuit schematic-This does not have to be a new invention. However, you must cite the
source of the idea. It may evolve as you become more involved in the design. You should describe
how the circuit operates in broad terms, although a full understanding is not required at the
proposal stage. Indicate any software that you might use to analyze the circuit. Identify any other
design aids that you have identified.
4. Tasks: A high level discussion of the tasks and reasoning by which they were defined. Examples
could include modeling of the various circuit modules, module testing, module integration etc. In
most cases, procurement or organizing will not be of sufficient intellectual content to be assigned
as a task. It should probably be a burden shared by everyone.
5. Test plan: Discuss the tests that you will carry out for each task and for the completed project
6. Milestones: Outline a timeline for each task and for the entire project. Define the major milestone
of the project as quantitatively as possible. For example, if you need to build a power supply give
the voltage, power, ripple etc.
 7. Division of labor: Each team member must take responsibility for at least one major task and be
actively engaged in the integration of the tasks to complete the project.

A hard copy of your proposal must be submitted to Dr. Wolfe on the day and time specified in class
schedule. There is one proposal per team.
More about Milestones
An important part of planning a project is a clear statement of milestones. You should identify 3 to 5
specific things that need to be worked out before you can complete your project; these are your milestones.
Good milestones have testable, verifiable criteria that can be used to decide when you have reached them.
For example, “Conduct research on op amps” is not a good milestone; although research on op amps may
need to be done, there is no easy way to determine when that process is finished. A good milestone would be
“Demonstrate working voltage amplifier with a gain of 10”, or “voltage amplifier achieves a gain of 10 +/-
0.1 V/V. Another good example of a milestone is that your team will have an important sub-circuit in the
project, say, a variable frequency square wave generator, built and tested by a certain date. In that case
your milestone might be stated “square wave generator delivers undistorted square wave over the frequency
range 100 to 10,000 Hz”. The proposal must include a table indicating when each of the milestone is
expected to be accomplished.
Project Demonstrations
During Project Demonstrations, your team will demonstrate to the instructor that your circuit works
according to the specifications. Project demonstration dates will be indicated on the class schedule, and a
list of available time slots will be posted, allowing your team to sign up for a demonstration time.

Your circuit must be labeled with large, easy to read labels, so the instructor can tell where to
hook the signals required. The hookups should be easy to make, so that his/her shaky fingers will
not short out an important signal or disturb the circuit. For him/her to give you credit, your
names must be prominently displayed on the circuit board, and on all the accompanying
documentation.

A neat circuit schematic showing all the values of the components in your circuit must be
available.

Measurements taken to demonstrate that your circuit met the specifications must be available at
the project demonstration.
Your team should give a presentation no more than 20 minutes in length, with every member of the team
presenting some aspect of the project. All team members must be present at the demonstration. You should
expect the instructor to ask questions of all team members; everyone on the team will be expected to
understand, to a reasonable extent, all aspects of the project. There is no particular format specified for the
presentation; the team should decide how to do this.

Project Documentation

 Team activity narrative: What did the leader do, who was involved in the design

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 decisions, provide dates of the meetings. Provide minutes for each meeting.
 A full discussion of the design process: Refer to a neat circuit schematic showing all
the values of the components in your circuit. Show the actual components that you used in
this schematic, not your design values. Explain how the circuit works. Identify the relevant
modules of your circuit. Document the design iterations and provide your reasons for all
changes to the initial circuit.
 Measurements taken to demonstrate that your circuit worked must be documented
clearly. This is not optional; if you have not taken any measurements, or you have not
documented them clearly, you cannot demonstrate that your specifications have been met.
 Progress must be compared to the milestones. What actions were taken if milestones
were not met? These actions, and the reasons for taking them, become part of project
documentation.
 Compare the design specifications with the measured circuit performance. Explain
any discrepancies and formulate an approach, based on your understanding of the circuit, to
mitigate the problem.
 Each individual team member must submit a team contribution report (see the form later
in this handout) indicating the contributions of every other team member as well as their own.
This form must be signed by the individual making the report. These reports are to be
submitted separately by each team member in a sealed envelope, at the time of your project
demonstration. They should be considered a confidential communication between the team
member and the instructor. Team members should see no one’s team contribution report
except their own.
 Each member of the team should have copies of the documentation, so that he/she can
prepare the formal report (see below). However, you may use data, graphs, circuits, and other
diagrams from the project documentation provided you cite the original author of the material.

Team Contribution Report

Individual grades may be different from team grades, either because the instructor determines that one or
more team members does not have a good understanding of the project, or because the team feels that
someone did not do their share of the work. At the end of this handout you will find a team contribution
report, which will be turned in at the demonstration. Each team is responsible for making sure that
everyone on the team understands what his or job is, and for making sure that each team member fulfils his
or her duty. If you feel that someone on the team did not fulfill their duty, you should indicate this on the
Team Contribution Report. Your instructor will use this information in determining individual grades.
Note that it is not necessary for everyone to make exactly the same contribution; it is necessary, however,
for everyone to perform the duties they agree to. It is the responsibility of the team to be sure that
everyone has a duty that he or she understands; it is each individual’s responsibility to be sure that
the work they are doing is acceptable to the team.

Formal Report
In addition to the documentation that accompanies the project, each member of the group must write and
submit a written formal report describing the project. The report must adhere to the Electrical Engineering
Formal Report Format that is available on the network. The due date for the formal report will be indicated
on the class schedule. Late formal reports will have significant credit deducted.
A hard copy of your formal report will be submitted to the laboratory instructor (Professor Wolfe) by the

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time specified in the course schedule.

Summary
 Your team must submit a Proposal with a project idea, team member names, specifications,
schematic, project milestones, and a test plan. Your proposal must be submitted as a word
processing document.
 At the demonstration, each team will submit Project Documentation; each team member will
submit a Team Contribution Report.
 The maximum grade will be earned only if the project meets all specs, the presentation is clear, and
the team understands how the circuit works.
 Individual grades may be different from the team grade at the instructor’s discretion, or as a result
of the Team Contribution Report.
 Each team member will complete a formal report on the project; a separate due date will be given
for this.
 Hard copies of proposals and formal reports must be turned in to Prof. Wolfe at the time specified
in the class schedule.

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 TEAM EVALUATION: ECE 3155

Evaluation Guidelines

It   is   not   necessary   that   everyone   contribute   the   same   effort   to   the   project.   It   is,   however,
necessary that everyone do what the team agreed they would do. Indicate in the table below your
assessment  of the  extent  to  which  each  teammate  performed  the  duties  he  or she  agreed to
perform. Include yourself as one of the teammates.

Full scale is 100%; that is, if your teammate did exactly what they said they would do, they
should get 100%. If they did not do quite what they said they would do, their score should be
something less than 100%. If they did nothing at all, they should get 0%. These assessments,
along with those of your teammates, will be used to determine the final project grade assigned to
each team member. Team members do not necessarily get the same grade on the project.

Your assessment is considered confidential, and will not be revealed to
the other team members.   Place this form in a sealed envelope, sign
across the seal, and submit it to your instructor along with your project.

NAME SCORE (100% total)
YOUR
NAME

TEAMMATE
#1

TEAMMATE
#2

TEAMMATE
#3

TEAMMATE

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#4

____________________________________ _______________________
Signature Date